Violence between ethnic Bengalis and Bihari refugees began during a religious celebration in the Mirpur suburb of Dhaka.

Clashes between ethnic Bengalis and Bihari refugees have left nine people dead in a camp in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Emergency services said on Saturday that eight people had died at the refugee camp in Mirpur, a northern suburb of the capital, and another person had later died at hospital in central Dhaka from shotgun injuries.

Officials said that police had fired shotgun pellets to disperse rioters.

Most those who had died had burned to death after their homes were torched during the clashes, the AFP news agency reported.

Kamal Hossain, a police official, said the clashes were triggered by firecracker explosions marking the Islamic festival of Shab-e-Barat.

Witnesses reported that a group of about 500 Bengalis armed with machetes and hockey sticks had attacked the camp.

"They locked up four of our houses from outside and then set them on fire," said Mohamed Shahjahan, a resident of the camp.

Shahjahan added that he and his family were able to escape because the walls in his house were made of bamboo but other residents had been trapped in their homes.